Corbin
If you listen to The Vers, a queer podcast I host with my three best friends, you know me as The Charmer. I’m always happy, flirting, and trying to win everyone over. I think most people would be surprised to learn I have a lot more going on beneath the surface.
But ever since all my friends have fallen in love, it’s getting more difficult not to feel left out…
Cue my fascination with Spencer, my neighbor who hates me. There’s something addicting about getting under his skin, and I blame the combination of my confusing emotions and too many drinks for spilling my guts to him about all my insecurities…and about how much I love cuddling.
Turns out, Spencer doesn’t hate me, and my word vomit is the catalyst that makes us decide to be cuddle buddies. When I need affection, I go to him, and he just…holds me. Along the way we become friends, and when I fall for him, it’s surprising that he feels the same. Spencer’s easy to talk to, fun to be around, and did I mention he’s hot? I love how confident he is in his full figure, and there’s nothing like being in his beefy arms.
Spencer has me wanting more for the first time in my life, and he’s determined to help with my disordered eating, but if I want a healthy future with him, I need to work toward being healthy for myself too.
The Charmer is an opposites-attract romance with a body-positive MC and a cuddle fiend learning to love himself.
The Charmer deals with disordered eating, low self-esteem, and negative talk about weight. While the story is uplifting and none of these are heavy-handed, please see the content warning at the beginning of the book for a full list.
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Not gonna lie, I did not like Corbin at the beginning of this book. More than the beginning. Maybe because I know similar personalities, maybe because of his disordered eating-also knowing people like this. But his over the top ME! ME! ME! schtick bugged me. But the more I read, the more I realized what an act it was. How truly insecure he was. And even with 3 best friends who adore him, he was really starved for love, acceptance and affection because he basically grew up without it.
Spencer is pretty much the opposite. He’s squishy, he knows it, he won’t apologize for it. It’s almost a nonissue for him. He is comfortable in his skin. He doesn’t have a group of friends. He is only on social media for his job. He has a family who loves him exactly as he is.
They are neighbors who run into each other at a function and Corbin kind of latches on to him. Besides the friends difference, Spencer has what Corbin wants. Spencer is also an excellent cuddler, which Corbin CRAVES.
Watching Corbin go from almost obnoxious, pay attention to me, like my nearly naked pics and tell me how pretty I am, to realizing that his friends love him for him. And Spencer seems to really like him for him. And he needs to like himself for who he is.
It isn’t a sudden awakening either, which made it so much more realistic. And the disordered eating is in the forefront ahead of working out. But working out to combat previous calories is definitely there.
Besides this being a great story with realistic characters, I really appreciated that men can feel the pressure to look perfect as well. Definitely not to the extent of women, but it is there. Add in the gay community which can be super toxic about looks and bodies as well, it was a great representation.
Of course the other three Vers guys and their significant others play a role in this story as well. And the Poddies just fold Spencer into the group like he was always there.
This was a great final book in the series.
4.5 pieces of eye candy